Not 100% sure as Timmy just announced it this morning, potentially? But I don’t think Timmy would choose that name considering a budget set just released with the same moniker.
Time will tell!
Oh man! Haha I hope not either. I think there’s good chance that it isn’t.
I’m quite excited honestly because Timmy’s tastes seems to line up with mine quite well.
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I’ve owned both, they are good but the lack of sparkle in either sets, as well as overabundant warmth, made me sell them off.
For the price I can kind of vouch for the Xenns, but not so much for the Thor MK2. Not anymore at least.
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How warm are we talking about? The Hook-X is a bit warm with slightly dark treble which I really like. Is it much more warmer or a tiny bit more?
Maestro, Penon are not available locally and import cost is very unpredictable here si I’d like to avoid those brands if possible.
Unique Melody, Campfire, Sennheiser, ThieAudio… Are available here
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Much, much warmer than Hook X. The Hook X has some add energy in the presence region too which helps.
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As @Rcayn mentioned the Thor is really warm. I initially liked it but, eventually was turned off by it. It was very limited to what it could replay in my opinion and do it justice mostly because of the elevated mids. I have the same thought on the Maestro Mini with a caveat. The Maestro Mini better controls the bass and doesn’t put extra warmth into the mids. Super fun set for a majority of hip-hop and a EDM. Works for other genres as well but, can sort of get in the way of the vocals and details a bit.
The UP is my baby. Been around the longest of my IEMs. Calling it fun might not suite it well for a lot of individuals. It lacks a lot of upper energy and sparkle that many may want to be able to be fun. For me it gives it the ability to crank the volume and jam for hours fatigue free. The bass also doesn’t seem to register like it graphs. I find it to seem lower. What you to go get though is a fast, tight and well controlled bass.
Meteor is fairly new to me still. While it graphs fairly similar to the UP in bass it definitely has more presence to me. The midbass especially is more impactful and punchy. Has great speed to it as well and man oh man is it textured. It also has better treble presence with details while still not being fatiguing cranked up. Which would most likely make more individuals call it a fun set vs the UP. Meteor has become my go to fun set and nearly dethroned my UP from my number one slot. I think it’s the best set mentioned so far that brings a good mix of authority and forward presence to the band without sacrificing vocals and details.
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Running the Cadenza via my MacBook headphone output. (Sold all my DACs before my new one arrived 
)
Spiral Dot tips.
Well, I don’t get metallic but I do get a tad dry. I think it’s the driver screaming for more power. It sounds dry, tight, resolving and very vibrant, it’s on the very edge of shouty for me personally.
If I raise the 60-500Hz area by 2,5dB and that seems to fatten and make it satisfactorily lush. I also up 8kHz by 3dB, because it allows me to. This driver doesn’t crap out and go harsh on me which is a very good sign.
Now I’m dying to know what it sounds like through a DAC/AMP.
Very excited. The build quality is perfect on my set too.
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Sounds fair.
I’ve started making sure that when I make a quick note to myself about a set (something I should do more instead of imagining I’ll remember things!) I track the eartips/source and volume level* at the time of listening. If nothing else it can help me notice trends, or where my opinion of an IEM changed.
*crudely, just based on the source, for example “55” on a DAP, or “6 bars” on the laptop.
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That is a big part of my spreadsheet layout. For when doing A/B testing, having a quick reference point for your volume matching, and notes for sets you don’t have anymore, makes a big difference when trying to make comparisons
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If you are trying to A/B a lot of IEMs I definitely recommend a db meter to actually volume match each IEM. The power range needed for various IEMs is so broad that its hard to get an accurate sense of volume without it IMO. For instance, the Maestro Mini needs 159mV to get to 85db whereas the IE600 only needs 84mV.
Speaking of the Maestro Mini, @MMag05 loaned it to me to try out and I gotta say FatFreq pretty much nailed my preferred FR with the Maestro series! As I have gone through IEM after IEM there has been something that I felt was missing for my preferences, even with the IE600 (I wish it had more physicality to its bass). With the Maestro Mini i honestly cannot ask for anything more tonality wise. I have been listening for the last couple of days and its just an addicting IEM! Bass has great physicality without bleed, precussions have proper weight and treble is non fatiguing while still having clarity. If I had to list cons it would be the following:
- Im not a fan of the lack of grill, Im glad they fixed that.
- I wish there was a bit more detail retrieval separation in the treble area. The IE600 is the technically superior IEM and I prefer it for vocal centric songs that don’t require sub bass (MM wins hands down for hip hop which is the majority of my listening).
- I wouldn’t mind a bit more bass sometimes haha. Its surprisingly well balanced in the sense that its dominate but not overbearing. I guess I could always turn up the volume if I need.
All in all Im sold on what FatFreq is doing with the Maestro series. This (and the SE) are the only IEMs that have tempted me since I got my IE600 and I had kind of hoped trying them would have sated that appetite but I think it just made it worse… Thanks again @MMag05 !!
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I second the db meter part of this. I find having a db meter to be really helpful when I’m trying to compare two or more IEMs.
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I have mine loaned by nice guy from Poland since today and really - I would use more bass as well!
And I noticed my library is generally quite mid bass focused and not sub bass heavy at all. Or I am deaf at those frequency range already.
Also - hot take - serratus has more prominent/physical low end than this 
I can’t compare as I lend him this set, but this is my out of my ass feeling
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Has anyone heard the Mangird Top?
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wow that is shocking! What source do you run with your Serratus?
Don’t ask me sources as I am known source infidel.
I run them out of DX3Pro+, Sony ZX300A (balanced), Qudelix 5k (balanced) and BTR7 (balanced and on sold now as it does not differ to me at all in sound with Q5k and is not really handy)
Out of all of them it sounds amaazing. One thing - I have quite one off version - in bell shell and with 500Ohm driver 
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holy moly! I notice minute differences in sources but my question was more related to the Q5K having enough just to push that 300Ohm (I guess 500Ohm!) driver
I may not be listening to very loudly - especially as you did originally with your problems with Q5k volume - but still somewhere around 75dB based on my SPL handmade rig.
To be honest I was driving this Serratus on Single ended of q5k in the very beginning before I had adapter 4.4->2.5mm - the RMS voltage is normally at 300-450mV, so still a lot of headroom (2VRMS max on SE)
Based on math it all make sense, you should be able to drive everything with almost any modern source as well - at least if by driving you mean getting loud enough 
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